Diablo II : The Seven Warriors of Lore
by Dragonfighter12
Summary: This is basically a story for Diablo that has the points of view for the characters. The first seven chapters will be introductory chapters for all the seven characters. After that, we'll start the adventure from the Rogue Encampment. Read & Review plz?
1. Druid's Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own any classes, techniques, or any other such thing from Diablo II. I own the names, but that's besides the point.

Chapter 1 : The Druid's Awakening

The Druids are known for many things, including their secluded nature. They study in forests with trees and animals, eventually mastering a form of elemental magic and the abilities to summon certain animals in their great forests and become some as well. Of course, the druids knew the time would come when they would send out their strongest Druid to destroy the three Prime Evils. They just didn't expect their best to still be in the academy, learning skills.

The druid in question has a name, but unlike any others. He is named Terra, after the earth that the nature they love inhabits. He had just reached the age where it would be safe to start some of the higher and more dangerous magics of druid lore. Going into the academy, he was immediately top of the class. But good things can sometimes spoil. Such as when the day came for him to leave the Druid Academy and begin the hunt for the Prime Evils. As he began travelling to the area near Tristram, he reminisced of the last days he had been in his homeland in the forests of Mount Arreat.

begin flashback

He was sitting in his seat, like always. The other students didn't talk to him, but he didn't care. He supposed they were too envious to be able to talk to him without yelling or crying at how they were still on adept magics and he was already moving to full adult magic. He looked around and saw the tree on which this building was built around. They all heard the tree, even though it seemed not possible for trees to speak. "Class is now in session, young ones. Please sit and ready yourself for today's learning." That was when the young Terra got up, telling the tree, "I'm not supposed to be here now, venerable one." The tree paused for a short time, then replied, "Ah, yes. Terra, you may be off to the Advanced Arts Class. Just follow the tree branches that move left to right."

Terra stepped outside the classroom and made his way through the hall, following the branches that were moving. Five minutes later, he arrived at a doorway, and inside, he could see adults of all ages, though none as young as he. "Please be seated, young Terra. Then we may begin today's lesson." Terra was surprised, but caught himself before he could show it, for it would certainly lead to questioning at the head of the most embarrassing sort. There was a druid in the classroom, but this one Terra could actually feel. The raw power coming off of the druid was amazing and the most powerful thing that Terra thought he would ever feel.

He took his seat the class in the last empty desk. "Okay, we may now begin. A lot of you are beginners in the art of summoning," The druid said, indicating towards the younger people, and just practically pointing at Terra. "For you, this may be hard to learn. All we want to do is add the knowledge of how to do it to you. As you get stronger and more mature, you should be able to summon some of the strongest summons ever." Terra was ecstatic as he was sitting in his seat, but he quickly grew scared as the teacher rose his hands and a vine suddenly came alive and left a slimy floor where it had once been.

"This is a poison creeper. If you are ever attacked by low level monsters, this is a good monster to summon. It will poison the enemy and attack them at the same time." He reached down and touched the creature and it was instantly gone from existence. He raised his arms, but this time a raven appeared near the roof. It started to fly around and look everywhere. "This is a raven. After a certain number of attacks, they will be instantly dismissed. The raven was dismissed so suddenly, there was a flash of light from the entire roof as it blinked out of existence.

The druid raised his hands again, this time though, a wolf appeared. He raised his hands four more times and there were five wolves standing next to him. The druid looked down and began petting one of them. It moved closer to him, so he could get his hand on its head a lot easier. "These are regular wolves, and can be quite tenacious if you anger them." One of the men reached down to one of the wolves who had spread out through the room. The wolf snapped upwards toward him, almost severing the new druid's hand.

The teacher quickly threw out his hand and the wolf stopped and returned to him. The new druid was looking frightened, but the teacher was smiling. "You shouldn't worry about it. I wouldn't have allowed him to hurt you." The teacher unsummoned all of the wolves, before summoning a spirit that glowed orange. It suddenly appeared as though everyone in the room grew tougher, and their feet glowed the same color as the spirit. "This is a spirit. This one is in control of the health of everyone in my party, or in this case, everyone in the room. Terra smiled as he felt the warmth of the spirit rushing through his veins.

"Okay class, I want to see if you can manage to summon a raven. All you must do is concentrate about the raven, and think about its body and every nuance of the raven. Then bring your thoughts forward in your mind and form it like the younger druids would form an insect." Terra heard flashes around him and realized that everyone else probably had at least a little practice with the summoning arts, but he focused on his training. The image swam forward in his mind and he saw it, its feathers gleaming in the light, it's beak shaped perfectly, its talons razor sharp. He concentrated and thought about it, trying to will it into existence. He felt a pop and looked up, smiling at the sight of a perfectly formed raven.

The teacher looked at Terra with an impressed look on his face, and said, "You are really good for a beginner, I'll give you that. Though, I know you do not have the physical stamina to summon anything greater for a while. At first, Terra didn't know what the teacher meant, but after a few seconds he began to feel it. It took all of his mana to summon a measly raven. He realized that it would take much more mana to solidify a wolf, or a spirit, and decided to begin to train hard. The teacher smiled at the class and dismissed them for lunch.

During lunch, some of the kids in his class actually came over, appearing impressed. One of them started the conversation by saying, "I heard from my dad that you actually managed a raven! Not many people our age can do that." Terra smiled, feeling his strength returning. "Yeah, it felt good though. I guess I just need more challenges to actually be able to do better than that, though, not too much more of a challenge. It's way too easy to do all this summoning stuff." Right then, the tree called out to all of the people to return to their classrooms.

As Terra walked into his classroom, he noticed several large crates in the front of the room. Some of the adults were gathered near their tables and were speaking in hushed tones. Terra walked over there to see if any of them had any idea what the crates were. As he got near, he could hear one of the older ones saying, "I think they're actually going to make us fight against some monsters." The others scoffed at this, before one of the youngest said, "Yeah, right. They wouldn't bring monsters into the academy. That would tip off their masters as to where we are."

The teacher walked in and called for everyone's attention. He asked the class to summon their raven once more. Everyone summoned it, then drank the blue potion on their desks. They were instantly recharged, and Terra marveled at how he felt. "Now then, everyone. In these crates are some low-level monsters. Quill-beasts, which should be easy for you to defeat. Now then, when I let them out, they will instantly choose a target and fling their quills at you, so move quickly." Everyone tensed up as the teacher brought his pole-arm around and stuck it into one side of the crate. "Ready?" The instructor asked, and after everyone nodded, he flicked the pole-arm, sending the closest side of the crate flying. Instantly, quills went flying out of the crate, hitting a few of the new druids.

Terra quickly ducked down and moved low to the floor. Before he knew it, a quill beast was upon him, with its quills rattling. Terra's eyes widened in fear, and he thought about the wolf that the teacher summoned before. His thought was, _If I could summon the wolf, this thing wouldn't be able to touch me._ Suddenly he felt very cold as all of his energy was drained. Right before he passed out, he saw a wolf appear and tear the quill-beast apart.

While he was out, he dreamt horrible dreams. The first thing he saw was a valiant hero, slaying a horrible creature inside of a boy's body. The next thing he saw, the hero emerged from what appeared to be a church, sporting a horrible bleeding wound in his forehead. Suddenly he saw the first image again, but this time he saw the subtle movement the beast made, shoving its claw into his forehead. He had pulled out the claw and noticed part of it broken off, no doubt, inside of his brain. He could already feel cold claws trying at him.

The next thing he saw, the hero was standing in a doorway, next to an old man who appeared to be more powerful than even the hero could tell. After that, the hero left the town. Suddenly, the crack to hell opened again, and everyone was slaughtered, except for the old man, who was captured. The only one who even remotely survived was the strong man, who was raised as undead. Next, he saw so many images of suffering people, like the ones in that poor village. He saw the cleric burned to death by one of the shamans that emerged. The woman was first raped by the goatmen, then roasted alive by some of the shamans again. A drunkard was standing up, smiling stupidly at all of this, then he was slain by the strong man. The next thing surprised Terra. He saw a necromancer come in and cast corpse explosion on the cows.

Suddenly, Terra's eyes opened and he saw the trees branches resting on his head, the teacher also by his side. The tree spoke, in its way of speaking. "The dream was horrible, but it was not a dream. Word has come in just now from the birds that once resided in that town that the entire town has been overrun by demons. Druid, you are the only one to have seen it here, and thanks to you, I can now understand why the birds were so frightened. If what has occured in your dream true, then that means that we must once again take up a stance to protect our mountain." The teacher looked up suddenly and spoke one word, "Destruction."

The tree affirmed his guess, then told Terra, "Young one, you must venture to that area. I can alrady sense a powerful mind over there, feeling out this power just as I am. Head over there, and find this entity. I can only describe it as feminine." Terra looked frightened at first, but immediately stood up and nodded. Suddenly, the druid felt himself grow stronger. The teacher felt it too, and said, "Congratulations. You made it to level one. You can now level yourself up." The druid knew what he wanted to get stronger in, and immediately felt his mana reserve grow larger. Suddenly everyone heard a great thunderclap, and a heavenly being appeared. Everyone's eyes widened, and the angel spoke in his large, echoing voice. "I am Hadriel, an angel sent by heaven to transport you, Terra, to the first place you must venture. Know that all of your questions will be answered in time."

The angel opened a portal and held out his hand. "Well then, Terra, begin your adventure. Step through this portal." Terra looked back at everyone before walking into the portal and the beginning of his quest.

AN: I hoped you liked it. I enjoyed writing this first chapter. I plan on doing six more chapters giving back stories, then I'll begin where the game begins. And yes, this will use the entire Lord of Destruction theme, which means Harrogath will be in here.


	2. Necromancer's Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own anything hailing from the game Diablo II. Except for the names of the characters.

To Snuggleheim: Thanks! I tried to put all of you readers into the mindset of Terra by using the fact that he knows none of the townfolk from Tristram. I hope that I keep you enthralled in the story.

Chapter 2: The Necromancer's Awakening

The second man is a bit more reserved, but he has tendancies for being brash sometimes. He is a preist of Rathma. A necromancer. Necromancy is considered a taboo religion by anybody living outside of the actual tribes. The tribes try and play with the line between life and death in order to bring what they want back from the dead. This young man will be joining Terra, but his name is much different. An offspin of demon, his name is Damien. This is his homeland.

The young man with pure white hair was walking around his hut that he'd known all his life. He couldn't believe he was leaving, but it was necessary for a Necromancer to leave his group to gain knowledge of the workings of the world. As he walked out of his door, he saw one of the people who had been nice to him the entire time he had been there. She smiled and said, "So, you're finally off on your quest?" Damien smiled and nodded, also saying, "Yeah, and it looks like it'll be raining when I get out there."

They shared one last smile, and then the necromancer walked over to the entrance of the caverns where they lived, and walked out of it. He was right, which was proven as soon as he walked out. He could feel the rain pour over him and he could also feel his boots slush into the mud. He looked at the wand given to him by the elders, and found a monster, already weakened by the rain. The zombie fell quickly. He already could feel the incantations rising up in him, and he waved his wand out in front of him, feeling a bit of his strength flow from him to the body. Suddenly the corpse burst open, revealing a human-shaped skeleton. It was formed in his exact image, which shows why he could raise the skeletons from quill rats and it would be human shape.

He could feel every movement of the skeleton in his mind, and he could also feel the questioning voice (almost) in his mind. At any moment, he could tell that voice to do something and the skeleton would be off to complete that task. For the moment, he told it to take the ax it had been summoned with and go cut some trees down and build a shelter. The skeleton immediately moved to the trees and started working at them, cutting them down.

Suddenly, he felt another necromancer's presence, but it didn't feel like a normal necromancer. He looked back, and was immediately shocked at what he saw. He saw a skeleton wielding a book and a wand, killing monsters and raising other skeletons. Damien immediately called for his skeleton, and wondered who would dare to send out necromancing skeletons. One of the leaders with about five skeletons and five skeleton mages walked toward the necromancer and he saw the demonic text scrawled all over the necro-skeleton. The book also contained demonic scripts.

The skeleton looked over to him, and Damien could see the glow of arcane demon energies glowing inside of the skull of the skeleton. He knew right then from the power of the skeleton that he couldn't possibly win against it. As he turned to run, he was hit from behind by an unholy bolt (corrupted form of Paladin's Holy Bolt) and he flew forward. He lost his concentration and the skeleton he had formed lost cohesion and fell apart into a jumble of skeleton parts. He suddenly found himself unwantingly remembering his life period when he was still considered a child.

They all made fun of him, because his teachers talked about how the compassion of a certain individual. His parents believed it their fault he turned out to be a kind, caring person instead of the insidious necromancers of lore, and normalcy. He saw how his people had, for the most part, left when Diablo called for them. He stayed behind partially because he was commanded to and partially because he wasn't planning on going anyways.

The thoughts stopped coming and he got up, facing the necromantic skeleton. He quickly moved as far away as possible, realizing that he couldn't hope to beat that thing. All he could do was pray it couldn't slow him down with curses. Luckily, it didn't hurl any at him. He got back to the cave and immediately began packing. Diablo told the adults where he came from. If memory served him, then Diablo came from the town called Tristram.

He pulled up his pack, and then set it back down, just to double-check. He fingered through the things he had. There was a minor potion of health, a minor potion of mana, a scroll of town portal, and a scroll of Identify. He pulled the pack back on his back and walked out of the door. Suddenly, a boom came from the heavens and an angel appeared. Damien smirked at him before walking on. The angel said, "Damien, necromancer, I am here to give you a vision." He smiled and said, "How stupid. Can't the big guy do it himself?"

As he began to laugh again, he felt a searing pain in his stomach. He looked down to see one of the angel's ribbon-wings touching there. Suddenly he felt very light-headed. He could feel himself start to slip away from the conscious world. As he fell, the angel said, "Hero, you must see this in order to understand the depth of what will happen to the world if you don't step up and kill Diablo."

He saw the hero fight Diablo, the lord of Terror. Then the hero walked out of the tomb, and the necromancer noticed the wound on his head was starting to coagulate. But at the same time, he could sense an unholy energy emanating from it and realized the truth: Diablo had left some of his own essence in the hero. It would fester and grow in the hero's body, until Diablo could take on a body of his own.

He saw the destruction of the town, but that didn't interest him much, seeing as how death was a part of his life. What did interest him, though, came after the demons razed the entire village. A necromancer started casting Corpse Explosion on the dead cows. Damien knew the necromancer. Hell, he'd be a fool if he didn't. After all, it was his dad.

He woke up and saw the angel staring at him from beneath the hood and realized that this trip would help him realize who did the necromantic skeleton. He stood up, still wavering a bit as a side effect of the induced vision. Even though he knew the angel put him under, it felt like the truth and he realized that this monster could pose problems to him and his study of the boundaries between life and death.

"Fine! I'll help, but I better get something for this." Damien said, trying to sound angry. He heard the angel smile, a funny sound that mixes between children singing and a whip cracking, and say, "Well spoken, Damien of the Necromancers. I shall open a portal to the place you must begin your quest at." He pulled out a scroll bound with a red-gold ribbon and read it aloud. A red portal opened and he gave one more look at the angel before walking into the portal and beginning his quest against Diablo.

AN: This actually is going pretty smoothly along the lines of writing. Pretty soon after this is put on I'll have Chapter 3 up, which centralizes around the Barbarian. That's all. PhilipFreeman Out! (Please don't sue me!)


	3. Barbarian's Awakening

Disclaimer: The story this is based on does not belong to me. It's an awesome story, but I don't own it.

To TheAmazingTechincolorRingWraith: Thanks for that. I thought of it one afternoon after playing for about two hours. I hope it turns out as well as it is in my head. Anyways, gotta get to the story.

Chapter 3: Barbarian's Awakening

This next Chapter contains information about the Barbarian. He was actually one of the smarter Barbarians. Of course, that could have been because his father was the leader of the council. He always had the knowledge and the strength, proving what a powerful line he had been born of. He was, of course, reluctant to go out and fight Diablo. All barbarians are reclusive and do not take kindly to the outside world. Read ahead, Brave Adventurer.

Lance was walking just outside the city Harrogath, his father's city. He called it such for the reason that his father was the Head of the Council. He smiled when he thought of his father: kind, compassionate. Just the kind of father a man should be. This day, though, Lance wanted to go out the gates, even though the demons had finally started organizing again. It didn't matter to Lance because they would all soon be killed by the Barbarian Guard that Quel-Thalak led.

He was walking outside, though, because some of his friends had told him to meet them there. They had just recieved their first proof of adulthood: a skull of hellspawn. He smiled as he looked down at his belt. The skull sat there, laced to his side, what looked like a grimace still on the face, even though it no longer was controlled by its master's face. Lance smiled as he fought the Quill Rat and definitely was one of the more gory killers. He was enraged when a quill hit him in a sensitive point on his arm.

He immediately rushed the rat and tore the head off of it, incidentally pulling out the spine as well. The spine twitched for a little while after exiting the Quill Rat's body, but Lance broke it in half and threw down the spine. He held the skull up and yelled out in victory. He remembered his father looking approvingly at him, smiling the whole time. He also remembered his teacher telling him about how much the training had done. Because of the training, Lance now knew over a hundred different ways to kill various demons.

As he was brought back to reality, he noticed the cave his friends had been talking about. He walked into the cave, and smiled as he heard his friends scramble around. "Relax, guys! It's just me!" He yelled into the cavern. Immediately, he saw three people stand up and walk toward him. He smiled at his friends and they sat down on the ground. "So then, Lance, what's been going on since you won?" The first of the three, Darius, asked Lance. Lance just smiled and said, "Well, I've not been doing much killing, that's for sure." They all laughed at this, and the second one, Garrath, said, "So then, what shall we do about that?" Lance looked confused until he noticed that his third friend, Torrath, got up. Torrath and Garrath were twins, so many people often confused them with each other. Lance and Darius had been with them all their life, and just like any other who has spent their life with twins, they could tell them apart easily.

Garrath shouted from the mouth of the cave, "Lance, come on out! I've got you a demon!" Lance's face lit up as he jumped up and ran outside. Once out, he saw a few goblins. He thought about the quickest way to defeat them, and decided on using their magic against them. One of them grinned then teleported, melting the snow around him as the fiery magic heated up the air. As soon as it appeared where it wanted, it was surprised by the fact that Lance was already standing there. He grabbed it by the head, viciously slamming it against the ground until it went limp.

He turned to the other imps and smiled before saying, "You know, when you guys teleport somewhere, you lead off where you're going by shifting your eyes to look. That's all someone like me needs to kill you." He ran to the other two, who had abandoned the teleport idea, and instead hurled fiery spears of bone at him. He rolled under the spears, getting right to where he could reach them. His hands shot out and both of them lost their hearts as his hand plunged into their chest and pulled out their demon hearts.

After the four had skinned the three skulls, Lance tied them on and began to show his intelligence. "I wonder why the demons have awoken once again. Last I knew, they all quieted down the moment Diablo was defeated by that wanderer." Lance said, but then reverted back into his barbarian thought process by saying, "There's a guy I want to fight. A guy who could defeat Diablo all alone. I wonder how hard it was."

Suddenly an echoing voice said from behind them, "The adventurer lost his soul to the Lord of Terror." All three of them turned around, expecting it to be some demon commander who would slaughter them all. Instead, all they saw was a person wearing a robe. Lance snickered at the robe and then said, "Oh, so then, how have you come by this knowledge? If you know the adventurer, then perhaps you can fight. If so, then I want to fight you."

"Well, I must admit that it's been an age since I've had to wield a sword, but I suppose I can do it for a challenger." Suddenly, the old man's robes changed to that of heavenly white armor, and ribbony wings appeared, flowing out of the stranger's back. A hood covered his face, even though Lance somehow knew that if he glanced at the face under that cowl, then he could quite possibly go insane. But Lance found himself doing something he never thought he'd do: back-pedaling. He was starting to edge away from the being.

"I trust you know what I am?" The being said, a bit of humor in his voice. "An angel?" Lance said, tactfully controlling his voice to sound amused, or maybe even haughty. "My name is Hadriel. I take it that you know why I'm here." The angel said, nodding his head at the previous guess. "Well Hadriel, to be quite frank, I think it's because you want me to go and take on Diablo. But I don't want to!" Lance said, his face starting to look rebellious. In an instant, the angel sheathed his sword and was upon Lance, grabbing him by the upper arms, to hold him still, and said, "You are the only barbarian capable of such an undertaking. You should consider yourself blessed!"

Lance just stood there and listened to the angel. When the angel finished, Lance's face had made a change, and the angel didn't doubt that the man inside had matured immediately. "All right then. I'll go." Lance said, as the angel let him go. Lance went right back to Harrogath, grabbed all his things, left a note on parchment for his father, and then went back outside the town where Hadriel still was waiting. "Now then, Lance. Go through this portal," He indicated the red portal, "and you will begin your quest." Lance didn't even look back as he walked into the portal.

AN: This chapter took longer than the other two because I had to reinstall my Windows Home Edition. It still doesn't work exactly right because it's not reading the sound card, but that's okay.


	4. Paladin's Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II, the expansion or anything else that I may happen upon in these adventures.

Chapter 4: Paladin's Awakening

Many people wonder sometimes how a paladin can be so devoted to one cause. However, they no longer need to worry. Due to the latest events in the Order of Zakarum, where paladins hail, many have broken off and become, what you could call, a splinter group. One young man, just fresh out of the academy, saw the horrors of what the Priests of Zakarum were ordering them to do and decided to leave with the others. His name was…

"William!" The young paladin shook out of a light sleep as he heard his name called. "What do you need, sir," he said as he looked over at his mentor, whom he had affectionately dubbed "Sai", wondering why he had been woken, but glad to be up and doing something. He looked over at his superior, and smiled as he got up and stretched his arms. "Is it time to be woken already?" Immediately, he felt a hand close tight around his mouth, effectively cutting off any possibility of speech.

"Be silent and look outside." The young man looked to where his mentor told him, and saw horrible things. He saw many demonic things known to the Ancient Text as Fallen, and he also saw the undead, such as Zombies and Skeletons, and even greater horrors that must've come from the depths of Hell. "You put on what little armor you can, and take this book." The paladin stuck a book into the back of William, who was more than a little frightened by the fact that he had easily slept through the slaughter of most of his comrades.

As Sai let go of William's mouth, William could smell the blood and sweat from his master and realized what had happened. He rounded on his master and saw the large wound in his side which was already festering, and looked at Sai's face in shock. His old friend smiled at him and said, "Please, don't be so shocked. We're being attacked by these creatures, and we probably should've been more prepared. Just grab the short sword, a buckler, and get out of here with the book.

William looked at the ground, realizing that he couldn't help his friend, who had taught him much about the same wound that now was draining Sai's health. Tears started to well at his eyes, and he knew what would come if he didn't leave. He would be slaughtered, just like his friend would.

William put his head down, then sighed, and finally, looked back up at his friend. "Fine…I'll go." Sai smiled at William and handed him the book. "This book holds the secrets to all of our powers. Take from it as you grow stronger, but remember that there are things that you can't read yet because you simply aren't strong enough."

William looked at his friend, suddenly feeling the full impact of the loss he was about to experience. The young man felt his eyes tear up, and then he just took the book, made sure his buckler and sword were secure, and ran out of the back of the tent. He didn't look back, not even when he heard his friend cry out for battle. He knew that if he turned around that he would not run away anymore. Tears spilled over his eyes as he heard the echoes of his friend's dying screams.

A few days later, William was in the wilderness when suddenly, he saw an old robed man walking through a nearby area full of the Fallens. The paladin rushed forward, only to be surprised at the fact that the fallen had all died, deep gashes in them. "Excuse me, sir?" The hood moved towards the paladin, and he heard a smile in the man's voice. "What do you need, young one?" The old man said, and the Paladin brought himself up. "As I have sworn, I will protect anyone traveling without protection." Once again, he could hear the smile. "How do you know that I cannot defend myself?" The paladin stopped a beat, and just sat there looking at the robed figure.

He heard a laugh emanate from the hood, and the voice sounded somewhat surprised. "You? Defend me against Fallen? Hardly…after all, you have no training in the paladin arts, do you?" William stopped cold, for he had not shared that tidbit of info with the hooded figure. "What's your name, venerable sir?" The paladin asked, feeling a bit of sudden fear of the man. Suddenly, there was a flash of light.

Ribbons flowed out of the back of the man's robe, and the robe immediately disappeared, as though it had never existed in the first place. In its place, a white robe adorned with golden thread appeared. The paladin kneeled immediately, awed by what he thought he'd never see. An angel. A real angel! "Get up, young one. You have much to do and not much time in which to complete these tasks. You do know where you are now, correct?" The angel asked. William couldn't find words, so he just shook his head.

"You are currently in the province of Westmarch. You are close to where a group of rogues have set up camp to try and save themselves from the constantly fighting, tireless demons of Hell." The angel told him, an air of superiority now surrounding it. William nodded, then said, after gulping down a breath and steeling himself for the answer, "Is my friend ok? You would know, right?"

The angel moved its head, as though slapped, which would've been imperceptible, if not for the drooping of the hood. William's eyes widened slightly, then he drooped his head. "I sorta knew anyways. Where's this camp you're telling me about? Sai would want me to move quickly to stop the spread of evil."

As the angel explained, William realized more and more just how insignifigant he was in the greater scheme of things. When the angel stopped his explanation with the Hero becoming what everyone knows now as the Wanderer, William stood there for a moment, as though frozen in time. He looked at the angel, and even though he knew why, he couldn't believe that such a great hero would become evil.

"Are you ok, young one?" The angel asked, sounding slightly concerned. "I...I guess. It's just hard to believe that someone so strong could be turned so easily." William said, hoping he wouldn't be reprimanded for such a question. "Hmm...An interesting thought. Although, with the parts of Diablo inside of him, he had no hope of ever resisting. But, wondering is not something we should do, young paladin. Now then, I have something for you to use." The angel said, offering a scroll out with his hand. The paladin took it hesitantly, wondering if it could be dangerous.

"Open it, young one. Don't just sit there and stare at it." The angel told him, guiding him to the next course of action. The paladin broke the blue-red seal on the scroll and read it. Instantly, a portal opened up in front of him, and he could see a fire and a man in blue clothes and a skull cap walking nearby it, trying to keep it lit.

"Now then, go through and never look back, young one. Your destiny begins now. You have been...awakened, I may say." The angel said as he pushed the paladin into the portal, sending him into the Rogue Encampment.

AN: Sorry that this one was shorter than my other chapters, but I wasn't exactly inspired on this chapter, and there's only so much you can do with an annihilated camp of paladins.


	5. Sorceress's Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II or any of its affiliates. So there.

Chapter 5: Sorceress's Awakening

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Now, Sir or Madame Adventurer, we look upon the Sorceress, a woman by the name of Lauria, being trained by, may the fates have it, a famous sorceress, unnamed, who helped the Hero get to the bottom level of the Labyrinth with her twin brother, a great Vizjerei mage. She was sent back before the battle began, greeted by many people, such as Cain and Griswold, wondering if the hero was all right. She sobbed out her answer, which was, "He's with my brother, so he'll be able to defeat Diablo." So she said, so the Hero was able to. But the sorceress, who dressed up as nothing more than a town peasant, never saw her brother, so full of life, exit the labyrinth with the Great Hero. Undoubtedly, she held a grudge, but this is not her story. This is the story of Lauria, the younger sorceress. 

A fire bolt flew through the air, scoring into the hay man on a stick for practice. A young woman walks up and looks at the dummy, which was fairly on fire. She smiled at her ability to finally cast a perfect Firebolt without it losing cohesion and just fizzling out before hitting anything. The dummy immediately disappeared, and she sees it reappear next to her teacher. The teacher looked the dummy over, then smiled at her student. "You're starting to catch up." She said, looking at her student. "Thank you, ma'am. I've been practicing hard to actually catch up with my fellow sorceress's." Lauria told her teacher. The teacher, known as Master of Elements, smiles at her young student, reminiscing of when she herself was a young one.

"Teacher? Are you ok?" Lauria asked, knowing that her teacher would disappear into the depths of her own mind for hours at a time. MoE smiled at her, immediately out of her mind and back to the current world. They began to walk back to the huts where the sorceresses lived, and as they walked, they talked of many things, including what the Master knew from the past about her largest fight ever.

"People underestimated sorceresses before, in the first fight against the great Prime Evil, Diablo. I fought alongside the great hero, but he sent me back, fearing for my life. I am still grateful, for the battle shook the foundation of the worlds. I remember it so easily, which is scary, considering how everything else is clouded up. You were only 6 or 7 at the time, so you may not remember much, but I'm happy to tell my diligent student about it."

_The hero walks down further into Hell, with MoE right behind him. He turns around to face her, and she can tell he's been troubled about what he's going to do now. "I can't, in all good conscience, let you go further. If you die, most of your knowledge will die with you. Go now and teach more in your ways." "No! I won't leave you to fight, and maybe even die, alone!" The hero sighed, then waved his hands. A portal appeared right next to him. "Go now. Go or I will force you to." "How can you force me, a master of elements to go?" She felt, suddenly, a hard staff smash against her head and she fell straight into the portal. Before she lost consciousness, she saw her brother, standing with the hero, preparing his spells and looking right at her while she fell._

"The tragedies in this world number as many. The hero brought back my brother's body, but the hero was never the same. He became brooding...almost entirely withdrawn. That's the way he's been for the past few years in Tristram. I hope, one day, to visit -" She stopped talking as she felt something, a shock wave almost, come from the West, near Khanduras. Her eyes immediately widened, and Lauria looked over worriedly at her master. "What is wrong, Master? What do you feel?" The Master turned her head, looking at Lauria with empty, haunted eyes. She muttered something, then fell to the ground.

The only reason why Lauria didn't stop her from falling was what her Master had said, which was, "Diablo..he has...returned!" She looked down, noticed her master and started to bend down and pick her up. Suddenly she heard a shout from the direction of the village and saw three of the Sorceress's Guard looking at them. "What have you done?" One of the sorceresses said, her hands glowing with lightning-like energy.

At that moment, Lauria ran, just hoping they'd leave her alone, and her wish was granted. She heard the steps stop at the body of Master. Her tears came then, both for her Master and for herself. She felt around in her pack, and felt the standard thing that any of the gifted children were given whenever they left the village. A scroll of Town Portal, a scroll of Identify, a Minor Mana Potion, and a Minor Health Potion. She sighed, realizing that her fate would probably be worse than death whenever the Sorceress's Guard found her. She had heard hushed whispers among her sisters in the art, horrible things, about how the leader of the Sorceresses punished those who killed fellows by taking the power, leaving a hollow shell of the person before.

She cried again, her tears renewed by the images her imagination put in her head. She slowly fell asleep while crying, and dreamt slow, seemingly laborious dreams. First she saw what she knew as Tristram, only the sun was shining, not at all like the dark place that the Master had described to her. Next, she saw her master, and she saw her fruitless effort at seeing her brother come out of the labyrinth, and she could feel the hatred that MoE felt toward the hero, who had walked out with not only his blood, but the blood of another splattered all over him.

_She would've asked him a question, but she saw the troubled look in his eyes, then decided to just leave him alone for the time being, realizing that she would've most likely looked the same. She walked over to Cain and Griswold, smiled at them both, not understanding how she was able to smile when her brother, her dear, sweet brother, was dead. She just continued walking and made it over to her hovel. Soon after, she asked the old witch outside of town for a teleport back to the Sorceresses Guild. Once she got back, she felt the town slowly fade from her view, as though it were moving further and further off of the Earth._

Lauria opened her eyes, realizing that nothing had attacked her that night. She soon arrived at a port near Kurast, a now-defunct city. She payed her way on a boat headed to Lut Gholein. Once she got there, she saw a man in a blue shirt getting ready to leave town. She asked if she could accompany them partway to their destination. She could not afford to tell him more than that, but he gladly let her accompany him. As they traveled into the more grassy domains of Khanduras, she could feel evil growing stronger and stronger. Finally, one night, an angel appeared in her dream.

"My name is Hadriel, and you are here to help the forces of Good stop the three Prime Evils. Stay with this man for the rest of his trip and you will meet up with others who have been chosen." She woke up from that dream in a cold sweat, wondering how the angel could command her to do such as that when she controlled the elements that the Prime Evils mastered immediately after arriving in the human domain.

_Oh, well,_ she thought, _I guess I might as well go along and see what I can do to help._ She smiled and fell back to sleep, looking forward to meeting her new companions.

AN: That took a lot less time. I hope to have the next one done quickly, as well.


	6. Amazon's Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Diablo II or any of its various other additions.

Chapter 6: Amazon's Awakening

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As we start to draw to a close on the introduction of the many heroes in our story, we come upon a great and powerful archipelego ruled by the women of their tribes. Another hero, named Lena, has been prepared, being the one chosen by the prophets. Long ago, the prophets recieved a message from Athulua, stating that the Dark Exiles (or the Prime Evils, as you know them) are returning and a child will be born on the very minute they recieved the message. 

Lena had just been born, and she was taken from her happy warrior mother to be trained by the best in their techniques and powers. Her mother was immediately proud that her daughter would be the one to vanquish the Prime Evils. Sadly, Lena's body couldn't handle the stress they put her under and she practically collapsed from the sheer amount of techniques they gave her. Just as she was being retrained, the unthinkable happened. This is where I begin to tell her story. Read on, brave Adventurers.

"I am so sorry that this all happened." Lena said again, ashamed at herself for being unable to remember the techniques at all anymore. The elder amazon warmly smiled at her and told her, "Don't worry, young one, it's all right. We will just have to train you again. Work hard and don't let up, and I'm sure you'll be perfectly competent in battle in no time."

"But, my strength and knowledge overall has decreased as well." She said, as though searching for a reason to be punished. She started to cry in frustration, but the elder one gently stroked Lena's face. "Do not worry, young child. You won't be punished for this. It is our fault, after all. We just dumped too many things onto you at once. If we had timed ourselves out a bit more, then we wouldn't have to worry about this. If anything, we're the ones who are sorry."

Lena still had her head drooped, but she saw her friends and noticeably brightened. "May I go and play with my friends now, honorable elder?" "Of course you may go, my child. Just don't play too long or else Kayna will not be the happiest person in the world." Lena smiled at the thought of a fuming Kayna and walked towards her friends, smiling at them as she did so. "So then, Lena, how did the meeting go?" "Yeah! Did they ban you or something for forgetting and losing everything they taught and gave you?" She sighed, then smiled at them and said, "Of course not! They're just going to teach me again. They think that now I'm a lot stronger and a lot more attentive to all of the nuances of the powers."

Her friends (who are of no importance whatsoever, adventurer) smiled and laughed, then told her about one of the glasscrafting men, who gave one of them a...complimenting look. She smiled and walked away from the house that the honorable Elder lived in. The Elder watched her fade in the horizon of the street, and then turned back to the other window in her house, facing out towards the sea. She could feel the power of evil beginning to flow again. The prime evils had been stopped before she or her kin could do anything about it, and talk of a Great Hero made its way across the ocean. The amazons were not fooled by the fact that he had supposedly killed Diablo, the supposed "greatest" of Prime Evils.

She sighed, and looked with her eye within her head. She saw many things, but mostly she saw the town, and what remained of it. It had only been one night since she saw the dream. She saw the destruction of Tristram, and the demons march the same direction as the Dark Wanderer. She sighed again, feeling the pulses of Dark Energy, wondering how long she could keep it all hidden to her city. It was then that she felt something clawing, almost, against her heart. In one moment, she realized how foolish she had been. However, that moment was her undoing. Suddenly, she felt herself being torn from her body. Her last cry was one of anguish, that her body would be used to kill her tribes.

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Lena heard the warcries in her sleep and woke up. She immediately dressed and grabbed her javelin as she ran out the door. She'd recognize that cry immediately. A cry of war and mourning. One of their own had turned on them. But who? She ran though a mental checklist, and knew that if anyone, it'd be Kayna. As she arrived however, she saw Kayna leading the other amazons. Then who? She looked over at where they were blockading and her heart broke as she saw their enemy. It was the Elder, who had helped Lena all through her childhood, who was now the corrupt Amazon, no longer with a human soul inhabiting her. Tears gathered at the bottom of her eyes, but she paid them no heed. 

She readied her javelin, and concentrated with all her might, trying to remember an ability that she could use. Suddenly, it came to her and she threw 10 javelins, which spread clouds of poison around, poisoning the now-Evil Elder. She cried as she did so, mourning for her Elder, but she did what she was made to do: root out evil demons among the world. As the body fell, she sighed, then turned around, looking at Kayna. Kayna looked back at her, amazed at the skill with which she dispatched that demon, and then smiled at her, reassuring Lena that everything was OK now. Lena began to cry, now that the fighting was over.

Suddenly, a beam of light seemed to come donw from the stars and an angel appeared in front of them all, with his ribbony wings flowing, appearing soft to the touch. _"Young one, please come with me. Time is of the essence."_ Lena looked at Kayna, who only nodded, then walked forward to greet the angel. "How may I be of use, sacred one?" She asked, wondering why she was addressing a servant of Athulua as sacred one.

_"Young one, I am known as Hadriel and I do not have any more time to waste. I am opening a portal, which you will step through, leading you to the area where you may begin your quest against Diablo and the other Prime Evils."_ Hadriel explained, pulling out a scroll with red-blue ribbons. He muttered a word when he opened the scroll and a red portal appeared. She could see a few other portals and a man in blue with a woman wearing a green dress and holding a staff. Suddenly she felt a push on her back and she hurtled into the portal, traveling quickly to her destination.

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AN: sigh Another chapter is done, but this one was surprisingly harder to make...But soon we can get on to the actual story. Please review! 


	7. ACT I: The Den of Evil

Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II or any of its add-ons or affiliations.

**Chapter 7: ACT I: The Den of Evil**

Now, brave adventurers, we draw to a close for our heroes. We have only one left, but even with our power, we were not able to locate her or her reasons. We can only hope that in time, everything will be revealed. As for now, we may finally travel to the Rogue camp that everyone has been going to for the beginning of their arduous quest. Now, then, as always, read on, Brave Adventurers.

Lydia's eyes widened as red portals opened up. _Guided portals, _she thought, and she ran over to where Warriv was standing, trying to get away from the five portals that had opened up. Suddenly one last one opened right behind her, and six different people stepped out, in different manners as well. One of them, looking strangely like a rogue, fell out of her portal. However, she was the only exception. Everyone else stepped out of their portals, looking displaced, but overall, prepared for this.

She felt a finger tap on her back and she practically flew into the air. She turned around and was instantly frightened, for there stood the Assassin, staring at the sorceress. Suddenly Warriv smiled and said, "Well, hello there. We don't get many visitors nowadays." Everyone's attention was turned to him, even the amazon who was now being closely examined by the rogues. Suddenly, a few arrows thump into the ground in front of the heroes.

They turned to look and saw a stern lady wearing what appears to be a chainmail dress and a red cape. "You are outlanders who we do not know. Identify yourselves, then thank yourselves that you were not outside. Still, we are watching you." She said with a mean face. "Please, friends, excuse my friend. Kashya has been on edge since she was pushed out of the monastary. However, we all mourn the loss of our fellow rogues. But, if you will excuse me, please identify yourselves. I recognize some of you, but not all of you."

The Druid stepped up first. "I am a druid from the slopes of Mount Arreat. My name is Terra." From there they stepped up, as a coincidence, in the order that they had been visited. "I am a necromancer, and my name is Damien." Immediately, glances from the life-giving druid, who always enjoyed the healing magic he had been taught, were shot in the Necromancer's direction.

Before a retort came from Terra, the barbarian walked up and smiled, shouting, "My name is Lance, and I am a proud Barbarian of the Northern tribes of Arreat!" He smirked at the druid, who felt his temper rise. "My name is William, and I am a paladin of Zakarum." Of course, he could feel the power shift as the necromancer put himself on guard. The sorceress walked forward and addressed the adventurers, "I am Lauria, of the sorceress tribes near Kurast." She walked back over near Warriv, and waited for the next adventurer to walk up.

The amazon was next. "My name is Lena and I am a proud amazon warrior, guided by Athulua." She walked back down and everyone stared nervously at the one who hadn't introduced herself yet. The assassin looked from person to person, then sighed and walked up in front of them. "My name is Aile and I am one of the Viz-Jaq'taar. Although, the madam sorceress may know me for what I do." She walked back down and before the sorceress could do anything, Akara spoke up. "Please, adventurers, help us with a problem we have been having."

Immediately, the druid yelled out, "Why should I work with these brutes? They will only get in my way." Even with the hatred already welled up between them, they all murmured agreement, except for the assassin, who continued to look amused. "You must work together or fall together. I will NOT tell this to you again, young ones." Immediately, Lena had a bout of homesickness hit her like a ton of bricks. "Young one..." she said quietly, then walked away, towards the fire where she sat down and didn't bother to move.

Terra immediately walked over to where Lena was sitting, hoping to help her, at least slightly. William looked around at all of the fellow adventurers and then smiled at Akara. "Maybe we should just have some time to rest now? We can move out in the morning." Akara looked at William, as though lost in thought, then smiled and nodded. "That does sound to be a good idea for you all." She showed the other five to tents, and made sure a rogue knew where the other two tents were for Lena and Terra.

"Lena, are you ok?" Terra asked as he sat down with her. In the background he heard something about rest, which sounded good, but he didn't wish to let this girl stew in her misery until she felt like going to bed. The best way to get rid of sadness and misery is to share it. She looked at him, and he could tell she was teetering on the edge of breaking down entirely. "No, but you need not worry. I will be able to kill demons well enough, even like this." She said in a shaky voice that was barely holding back her emotions.

Terra breathed deeply, then looked up. He thought for a moment about where she got visibly disturbed, and tried to open her mind with his own musings. "I had a mentor." She looked over at him, unsure of what he was doing. "He was a real hero. He always carried around an amazing pole-arm and would always tell me stories of his younger days of slaying demons and other various evils on the slopes of Mount Arreat. One day, though, he came back and he was changed."

Lena's expression changed again, and Terra cut a glance from the dark sky to her face, checking for any visible change, and he could see, almost, sympathy, and he had a rough idea of what happened to her. He looked down, and then looked back over at her. Instantly he turned away. _She's looking at me? Why?! _he thought, frantically clawing at why he was uncomfortable under her gaze. She smiled and then said, through her tears, "Thank you for trying to help me out. We need to get our rest."

Terra nodded in agreement, looking over at the exit of the encampment and seeing some quill rats and his experience with them came back to him, suddenly, like a far-too-strong dream. He shook his head to get rid of the dream, but the fear on his face had been seen by Lena. She smiled at him, and then whispered into his ear, "Don't worry about those. I'll protect you." Terra looked over, desperate to explain why he had looked fearful, but she hugged him.

_All in all_, he thought, _this has been a very weird day._ He melted into her hug, hugging her back, and then they both walked to their separate tents and fell sound asleep, except for Aile, who was sitting in her tent, meditating on her skills. She smiled, thinking, _My master was right to tell me to come here._

The sun came up and immediately, Terra woke up, wondering why the sun barely shone on them. He came out and asked Akara. "We are not sure why the clouds have stayed for so long, but we are sure that it is of demonic influence. Perhaps the demons' master wants to lower the morale of the rogues."

Terra looked up at the clouds and was almost mesmerized by the way the clouds were moving. Suddenly, he felt someone right behind him, and he felt the death and jumped forward, turning around in the air. Damien smiled at Terra, and then said, "What's wrong, dear druid? Are you scared of me, or maybe my power to move the line of life and death?" Terra glared at him, feeling the tension between the two opposing arcane knowledge.

"Stop right now!" Terra and Damien both turned and looked at the loud voice that had yelled. William glared at them, moving in between the two. "If we must get along, I will not tolerate any infighting, even against one directly opposing my religion." Damien gave William a glare, then smiled again at Terra. "I hope your magic is enough to save us all, or else you're in for a lesson in teamwork." Damien stalked off, going near enough to a tubby old man named Gheed to make the old man sweat in fear.

"Don't listen to him, Terra. We can do well with or without him. We don't need him." "Qute to the contrary, young ones, you do." Terra and William jumped at the sound of Akara's voice. "Well, I won't fight alongside that death-bringer." Terra said, looking towards the sky again, feeling his eyes drawn directly to the clouds, as though they had already hypnotized him. "You must, or else you will all perish along with the world! This is no time for petty trivialities!" Akara immediately yelled at Terra, frightening him. He looked at her with wide eyes and fought to keep his eyes off of the sky. There was something...unreal about the sky.

Akara looked a bit more stern and she asked him, "I am not telling you to do this for me, but rather instead, I am telling you to do this for the world!" Terra felt bad now, and he got up. "Fine then. Tell us what we must do and I'll help gather everyone up and explain it to them." Akara looked at him happily and he could feel the good feelings radiating off of her, more so than he thought she could ever feel. She then proceeded to tell him about the Den of Evil, a cave which had recently been taken by many Fallen and Zombies. He listened raptly, waiting for the true goal. She then told him that she wished for them to purge the cave of zombies and fallen so that they may not have a stronghold so close to the Rogue Encampment.

Terra sighed and looked outside the camp. "Why can't the rogues do it? They have more skill than us. Plus, they have the whole teamwork thing going for them. That's more than a little effective." Akara looked at Terra sternly, and then said, "You can feel the extra demonic taint out there. If our rogues tried to fight, they could become corrupted." Terra clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, a thing he copied from his elders. "Corrupted rogues-no-anything corrupted are, quite simply, too weak to be considered enemies." Terra heard a sob behind him and knew it was from Lena. For some reason, he had taken quite a liking to the extremely strong amazon.

He turned around and saw her, just as he had expected. She had tears coming out of her eyes and he could tell that his conversation between himself and Akara had upset her. "I'm sorry, Lena. I didn't mean to hurt you or make you sad..." Terra tried to apologize, but she looked at him, unbelieving, and ran off towards the other end of the camp. Terra looked at the ground and sighed. "She cares for you, and you can't even see it." Terra looked up at Akara, who had uttered that surprising statement.

"It's true and you could see it from the first time she looked you in the eyes." Akara said, looking sternly at him. Terra looked at the ground, nervous. "It just feels unusual is all. I didn't think that someone could like someone else within minutes of finding out the person's name." Terra said, rubbing his foot into the ground. Akara smiled at him, and said, "Count yourself lucky. She is strong and has a fierce amount of loyalty. You'd do well not to scorn her feelings." Terra continued looking at the ground, but then sat down, watching the fire in the distance.

"All right then. I guess it's time we head out now. Wait a sec..." Terra said, remembering the paladin suddenly. He turned, but William was nowhere near him. William had walked over to Warriv, discussing things that appeared to have to do with the path to Lut Gholein. Terra looked at the paladin for a little longer, then moved his gaze, desperately, hoping to see the Amazon, but he could tell she was in her tent.

"I'll go get her, and then we can move out. Could you gather everyone else here?" Terra asked, hoping she'd help him, while he tried to calm Lena. He walked over to her tent, listening for her. He smiled inwardly when he didn't hear any sobs from her tent. _At least she's a bit more calm. I can deal with calm_, he thought, looking at the tent for a bit longer. Terra walked into the tent and saw the amazon laying down on the bed. "Lena...are you all right?" Terra asked cautiously, hoping she wouldn't explode at him. She smiled, or tried to, but it ended up looking more like a grimace.

"My master became a corrupted creature. She had too much of what I believe was arrogance. She thought she could control the demons, but they ended up overtaking her as they do all who try to tame them." Lena explained, darting her eyes from Terra to the ground, thinking about whether or not he'd just sit there and laugh and make fun of her mentor as he did the other corrupted. To her surprise, he walked over to her bedside and looked at her, no humor on his face. "I am deeply sorry for the remark I made. I am sure that your master was a very strong person and that I was wrong about corrupted. I was taught by my teacher that those who were corrupted, however, generally had a weak willpower."

Lena smiled at Terra and said, "It's all right. Don't worry. We better get going, shouldn't we?" Terra's eyes suddenly flew open wide, and he smacked his head. "I forgot! I can't believe I forgot!" He pulled her up out of the bed without thinking about it and then ran outside. He saw everyone waiting over by Akara's tent. She was busy explaining the first quest that they were going to complete. Terra and Lena joined the group toward the back and Terra nodded, hoping that Akara would see or sense him. Suddenly, she wrapped up her explanation and said, "Now then, adventurers, you must head out into the Blood Moor and eliminate the Den of Evil. Feel free to kill other monsters as well, seeing as how it'd be a huge help to us rogues."

Terra smiled for just a moment, then came back to seriousness. "OK everyone, we have to get moving now. I'd like not to have to do this during the night, but I will work at all times. Let's get moving." "Why should we listen to you? I personally think that I would have a much more valuable knowledge of the demons here; enough, at least, to not be just a little baby wandering around for the first time." Damien said, grinning a truly frightening grin. Terra looked at him, but this time, his gaze didn't waver. He stared hard into Damien's eyes, until Damien backed down, looking away.

"Any other problems, or can we move out?" Everyone stayed silent, and Terra looked forward again, satisfied. "Then let's get moving." They walked out and were instantly assaulted by ten zombies, loping towards them in their odd way. Immediately, Lena nocked an arrow and let loose, William ran forward and sliced away at another zombie, Aile leaped at one of the zombies coming towards her, Lauria fire-balled a zombie, Damien raised a skeleton from one of the fallen zombies and started fighting using the skeleton, Lance ran forward and chopped one of them over with his axe, and Terra sliced away with his sword. After a little bit of fighting, they continued on, fighting and growing even stronger.

As they approached the Den of Evil, they could feel the vapors of evil coming out of the cave, amazed by the sheer power they felt from in there. Terra looked at everyone and said, "If you have to go back to town, do so now because we won't be leaving here until we're done." Everyone looked at him for a moment, then he asked Lena, "Do you have to get more arrows?" "No, or at least not since I learned Magic Arrow. It's slightly less stronger, but still powerful enough to kill something quickly enough."

Terra smiled, then looked at his ravens circling overhead. He had two, and smiled as one of them came down and perched itself on his shoulder. "Then let's go." Terra said, looking into the mouth of the cave with fear nowhere to be found. They all walked in, and the first thing they were aware of was the stench of rotting flesh. WIlliam began crying and said, "The souls here are so sad...We must free them by killing every flesh-mongering monster in here!" He unsheathed his sword and readied his shield.

Everyone moved forward, but they almost immediately came to an impasse. There were two paths. Both felt equally powerful and everyone was unsure of how to proceed. "Maybe we should split up? We'd cover more ground that way." Damien said, looking back and forth and hoping to hear praise instead of more mistrust from the group. "That sounds like a good idea. Two groups. Find your group and we'll get moving." Terra said, smiling at Damien. Damien looked suspiciously at Terra for a moment, then lightened a bit and managed to show a smirk.

They split up and started to walk in different directions. Terra had Damien, Lena and Lauria (only because Lauria asked him and whispered that she'd rather not die today, hesitantly looking over at Aile.) and William had Aile and Lance. Terra's group traveled cautiously through the dark, wandering around the corners, but William's group could see much further, because many Fallen had constructed torches to see in this area.

"Terra...I'm hearing something, but it doesn't sound like something I'd want to be near..." Lena said, nocking an arrow and starting to shift back and forth. "This darkness is unnatural..." Lauria said, as though thinking out loud. Terra looked around at the rest of his group, and Damien suddenly widened his eyes. "Damien-" Terra began in a somewhat playful voice, but was cut off by a loud moan right into his ear. Suddenly many long-nailed hands raked at his skin, tearing it like paper. One of them, however, left a cold feeling in its scratches. Before he could turn around, the hands came down again, and one of them sunk their hands right into the back of his head. He screamed out, but suddenly, the zombie died. "Terra...?" Lena asked in a wavery tone. Terra's eyes had rolled into the back of his head, and he fell to the ground, twitched for a moment, then was still.

Lena's eyes widened and she screamed, which got the other group's attention, way down in the other end. As they ran, they could hear more screams and several magical sounds, such as explosions and the chorus of voices whenever an amazon uses a skill. When they got there, Terra was laying on the ground, dead. Lena, Lauria, and Damien were all sitting there, breathing hard. There were about ten zombie bodies and a couple Gargantuan bodies laying on the ground. Lena was crying and she kneeled next to Terra's body. "Can we bring him with us? I...I want to bury him..." William smiled and nodded. "Yes, of course. We'll bury him and bless his body."

Lena helped to pick up Terra's limp body and they all helped to carry him out of the cave. They left, and were happy to know that they also accomplished their quest. They trooped into town with Terra's dead body, and suddenly Lena screamed. They looked at her, then at the direction she was looking and they screamed as well. Terra was sitting there on a chest, looking lost in thought while gazing into the fire. Lena let go of dead Terra and ran over to the chest where the living Terra sat. "Terra! Are you all right?! How are you here?!" Lena asked without pausing. Terra looked at her and responded, "I don't understand it. For one moment, I felt myself leaving here, but then it was as though an invisible force pushed me back here and gave me form again..." The others carried his body over to him, and he reached over to touch the face of the other Terra.

Suddenly, the dead Terra was gone and all his items had been equipped to the living Terra. Terra looked at himself for a moment, amazed. Then he stood up and smiled at them all. "I guess...I'm not dying any time soon." They all smiled and started to drag him along to Akara's, except for Damien, who stood away from the group, watching in horror. "How? How can he bend the balance of life and death so? My people have been trying for the last one thousand years to perfect raising a body with its own soul back. But how did he? He doesn't even have any intrinsic knowledge of the balance of life and death." "Maybe, death-speaker, he isn't the only one who can do that?" Damien jumped and turned around. Aile was standing right behind him, and it was obvious she had been listening to his every word. Damien stared at her for a little bit, then sneered and walked away. "His pride has been hurt. This could work rather effectively."

The others walked up to Akara and said, "We've completed your quest." Akara smiled and said, "Yes, I know. I could feel the disappearance of the evil from this distance. Now, as a reward, I'll teach you a skill of your choice." As they all chose skills, then walked away, Lena stared at Terra, who seemed much more thoughtful now. She walked over to him and asked, "Do you think you'd like to talk to me, just me and you? Maybe you have something you need to talk about..." Lena looked to the ground and she could feel Terra's gaze on her. "Sure. It may rain tonight. The trees say that they can feel these dark clouds bloating quite a bit." She smiled, then looked down into her bag.

"You may be able to use this better than I can. I think you'd enjoy wearing it too." Lena pulled out a helmet, but it looked to be made of a wolf head. Terra's eyes widened and a smile played across his face. "A wolf helm? Down here?! Amazing! They even have some good enchantments on it." Terra stared at it for a moment longer, then put it on over his head. He felt like he could take a bit more damage without feeling it. He smiled at her again. "Thank you so much for this helm." Lena said, "Not a problem. Now then, later on tonight, right?" Terra smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Lena smiled widely. "Thanks!" She ran to her tent and stayed in there, whereas Terra went and talked to William.

"William, what do you think about what happened to me?" Terra asked William. William looked at him for a moment, and then said, "Divine Intervention, plain and simple. We're the chosen to smite the evil of Diablo. We can't do that if we're dead." Terra nodded, then looked over at everyone else. He realized that he had barely talked to Lance, but that was okay, because Terra knew Lance didn't feel like talking to _him_ either. Lauria hadn't talked all that much, but she was shy, from how she had tried to hide from the others, time and again. He'd talk to her whenever she got over her timidness. He didn't even want to talk to Aile, because she just gave off a really creepy aura. It felt...weird to be around her. Like she could...feel your feelings and thoughts.

Terra shook his head and decided to take a nap. The easiest way to pass time, after all. He went into his tent, summoned a crow and commanded it to wake him when night fell. He went to sleep and dreamt restless dreams about the wanderer slaughtering people in a tavern, then continuing onwards out of Westmarch. He noticed a person following him, but the person didn't seem to be very significant. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He woke up and looked at it, and the crow was biting him on his arm that was hanging off of the cot. He looked around, realized that it had been dark for only a little bit, then thanked the crow and unsummoned it. He ran out to the fire, and saw Lena sitting there, staring fearfully at him. "You were making some...unusual sounds. Sounds that I'd expect out of a demon..."

Terra remembered only one part of his dream. He explained to her that he dreamed of the wanderer slaughtering a tavern and he was rather frightened from it still. Lena nodded in understanding, then looked around them. Everyone else had pretty much gone to sleep. A few rogues were patrolling near the outside. "Terra," Lena began. "I...I don't know how to say this, but I've...I've taken quite a liking to you. I know, I know, it's only been a few days, but still, you have this...this protective aura and you seem to try to do the best for everyone and not shortchange anyone. I..." Suddenly, tears began to spill down her face. Strangely, at the same time, the rain fell. She noticed that Terra had taken his helm and heavier armor off, and thought that she should've done the same. She asked, "Could you hold on for one second?" She ran over to her tent, holding the tears back as best she could, and she made it inside her tent.

She took off her helm and her bow and arrows, but the tears suddenly poured from her eyes. She began to sob, but she hoped she was doing so quietly, so that nobody would hear and come to ask. Suddenly, she heard the flap move, and hoped to Athulua that it wasn't Terra, but she knew that it was by the way he walked. Even in the mud, he had a soft way of walking that eliminated most sound. He looked at her with a completely serious face. She looked at him, then started sobbing aloud. He moved down to a kneel immediately and held her against him. "I-I-I was s-s-so scared that I-I-I'd lo-lo-lo-lose you..." The last two words of Lena's sentence turned into the beginning of a huge sob. Terra looked at her, realizing that, for all the training he had gone through, he had never learned how to comfort a person.

"It's all right now, though. I'm here and I'm not going to let that happen again." _Truly_, he thought to himself. Lena looked at him and her face was more red now and he knew that she wasn't going to stop crying anytime soon, even if he allayed her fears about his death, because she wasn't only crying for him anymore. She was crying for everyone who had died, for those who would never be able to cheat death. "You know, you're a really compassionate person. Please, though, calm down. You may not feel well if you don't calm down a bit. Here..." Terra said, moving one of his hands towards the ground. He closed his eyes and wrinkles of concentration showed up on his forehead and at the side of his eyes. Suddenly, a flower sprouted up, a beautiful white rose. Terra smiled at Lena, whose expression had taken on one of awe.

_Please let this help her, please let this help her, please let this help her_, he thought, hoping that she'd stop crying, at least for now. He hated to see her, or anyone, cry. Suddenly, images of his mother came back to him, and he felt a lump in his throat. "No, not now..." He whispered. Lena looked at him and could tell that he was battling with his own emotions now. Her tears stopped and she asked Terra, "Are you okay?" He looked at her, smiled...and then that smile twisted. He shook his head and said in an uncharacteristically wavery voice, "No...No, I'm not." Suddenly his tears came, and so did huge, great sobs. She took his head into her shoulder, rubbing his head full of red, fiery hair. "It's all right, Terra. It's all right." She said, trying to calm him down. Unlike him, she had lived with many other people at all times, so she had seen plenty of ways to calm a person down.

"It'll never be all right! Mother never had to die! She just...she wasn't strong enough to fight back. I hate the Prime Evils. I hate the Lesser Evils, I hate the great and lesser demons!" He sobbed again, then he looked up at her, and she looked, with a soft and caring smile, right into his eyes. His sobbing subsided somewhat, but he hugged her even harder. Lena said, "Terra, I'm always here for you, ok?" He looked back up at her, and nodded. "Thank you...and I'm sorry. That was...an unbidden visitor from the past." Lena was, of course, still surprised to see someone who looked as strong as he did cry so hard.

Lena looked at the ground for a moment. "Do you want to stay with me tonight? I can set up the extra cot they gave me in case mine breaks." Terra looked at her, nodded, and before she had the other cot up, he had fallen asleep on the ground. She softly shook him to waking, then guided him without words to the other bed. She smiled and thought, _Wow...he looks so soft and vulnerable when sleeping._ She smiled, kissed him on the cheek, then turned to her own cot, fell down onto it, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

AN: Wow...That took a bit, but it's a long chapter. I really think that everyone who reads this can tell who the two main characters are. I will focus on the other characters, but it'll take me a bit to do so. As for now, though, take heart in what you have read and, please, review my story. 


	8. ACT I: Sisters' Burial Ground

Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II or any of its affiliates.

Chapter 8: ACT I: Sisters' Burial Ground

Lena woke up in the middle of the night to sad-sounding moans and cries. She looked over and saw Terra, rolling in his cot, desperately trying to claw something from his body. She immediately ran over to Akara and asked her about it. "Lena, he is having a bad dream. However, this dream is not treating him well. We can take a peek into his dream if you wish. I can set it back to the beginning." Lena looked back at the tent, bit her lip, then said, "Yes. Please, Akara, set his dream back."

Akara suddenly took on a look of great concentration and grabbed Lena's elbow tightly. Lena felt the world shift around her and suddenly, she was in a forest. She looked around for a few seconds, then saw a young boy, smiling with his mother. The face, though, was easily recognizable. "It's Terra!" Lena whispered to Akara, who was nodding her head, already knowing who it was. Terra and his mother walked on a bit further, when suddenly a huge bear jumped out of the woods. Lena tried to nock a bow that wasn't there, but she didn't worry for long. Suddenly, the bear's limbs shifted into a more human formation, the hair receded and she could see clothes and armor on this human. He smiled at the two and she heard Terra laugh and say, "Daddy, why do you do that?"

His dad looked warmly at Terra, but suddenly, his eyes widened and he shoved Terra out of the way. A fire spear passed by where Terra once was. Terra's tears were immediate, and his mother tried to get to him. While she was running towards him, though, a fire spear passed right through her chest, exploding the front out on Terra. His eyes widened to an unbelievable width and he started moving back slightly, whimpering. His father raised his arms and a huge vine raised up from the ground and swallowed the imp.

Terra's father passed over to Terra and held him in his arms. Terra sobbed into his father's shoulder and soon was silent, looking at his mother's body with an immensely empty expression. Terra looked at the ground for a moment, then concentrated, just as he had in the tent and, in a few moments, a white rose grew, its beauty dazzling. Terra looked up at his father, and she could hear his words, even as the dream began to fade. "Daddy? Will this make her happy?" His dad nodded through tears. "Yes. Yes son." They walked away, and Lena felt the swirling sensation again. They were back in the camp. "Sorry, but I'm gonna go check on Terra." Lena said and then ran over to her tent.

She got there and Terra was sitting there, staring quietly at the rose. "Terra? Are you...okay?" Lena asked, hoping that if he had an outburst, he wouldn't be sad about the dream. She also hoped, although this was much larger of a hope, that she wasn't seen in his dream. Terra looked up at her, and she could tell that he had cried during the dream. She didn't blame him, for she, too, would've cried if her warrior-mother had died in that way, right in front of her.

He smiled slightly, and then said, "Yeah, I'm all right. How're you, though? You left after staring at me funnily." Her eyes widened. "How did you know that?" He smiled. "This raven's here to watch me and those near to me as well as fight." She looked at the raven, who chose now to make a sound. She sighed. "I was worried about you. It looked like you were trying hard to flail against a dream that you never wanted." Terra got up, and for the first time, she really noticed his height. "Imps killed my mother right in front of me. Suffice it to say it wasn't pretty. Remember the mentor I told you about?" He asked. She nodded in silence. "He was my father's brother, who had stopped being vigorous about life whenever my mother died."

Lena looked to the ground and then back at Terra. "I'm sorry that your life has been so horrible on you. If there's anything I can do...?" Terra smiled and shook his head. "Nothing, unless you want to follow me all the way back to my home after this is all over." Terra said, darting his eyes away from hers as though he were looking at something through the flap. He saw a rogue enter the camp, with many wounds along her arm and leg.

Kashya ran over to the rogue immediately, and she called for Akara immediately. Akara came over and healed her, but Terra couldn't hear anything more. "Lena, perhaps we should get ready. We may be about to do something else." Lena followed his gaze and her eyes widened. She began to run out there, but she felt Terra's large hand close over her shoulder. "Don't. If they need us, they'll get us. I have no doubt of that. For now, we both need sleep." He walked her over to her cot, then went over to his and laid down. Lena felt tiredness take her immediately after laying down and her eyes shut.

* * *

Terra woke up, put on his armor, then woke all of the others, starting with Lena. As they all got ready, Terra looked at Lena, who was still within her tent for some reason. "Lena, what are you doing? We have to get-" "Terra, I want you to know that I saw your dream last night." For some reason, Terra felt his stomach do a somersalt. Terra's eyes narrowed and he asked, "How?" She looked visibly scared now, and she immediately said, "I went to ask Akara and she wanted to look into your dream as well, because it was causing a great amount of stress to you. I told you, I was worried." 

Terra looked at her for a moment longer, then turned away. "A man's mind is the place where he can hide, where no one is supposed to get to. You broke that, though your reason was honorable. Why didn't you just wake me up?" Terra asked, still in a monotone formal voice. She breathed in, and then said, "I was afraid that if I woke you up, your clawing would go to me immediately without you thinking about it." Terra nodded, then turned around. Tears were visible, but she could also see fear. "So you saw her. My mom? You saw her, right?" Lena nodded and he did as well. "She was always so nice, and she never actually yelled at me. She supported every one of my ideas without fail. Well...unless it could cause me trouble or pain." He smiled in a painful sort of way, and she immediately felt sorry for him, unable to know a mother's loving embrace when he needed it the most...she looked back and forth and said, "I'm sorry to cut you off, but I think we better get moving. The others are waiting outside."

Terra's eyes widened, and he yelled, "I forgot again! Damn!" He ran outside and everyone was waiting there, listening to Kashya. When he walked near to her, she looked at him, sighed, then started again. "My Rogue scouts have reported an abomination in the Monastery graveyard. Apparently, Andariel is not content on taking only our living. Blood Raven, one of the finest captains in the battle against Diablo in Tristram, was also one of the first to be corrupted by Andariel. Now you'll find her in the Monastery graveyard raising our dead as zombies! We cannot abide this defilement! If you are truly our ally you will help us destroy her." Terra looked at her, then smiled. "Of course we'll help you. After all, you've helped us as well, what with putting up with our presence in your camp."

Kashya looked speechless for a moment, then retook her stubborn, maliciously mean face. Before she said anything else, however, Terra and everyone else walked toward the gate out, and they left. They went through The Blood Moor, reaching Flavie quickly now that they were stronger. "Go on, but beware. The monsters are much more dangerous ahead, madam Amazon." Flavie said, upon seeing Lena. Lena smiled slightly, then they pressed on. As they arrived in the Cold Plains, they saw a circle ahead in the distance, similar to the ones in town, except this one wasn't lighted. As they approached it, the torches began to gutter back to life, and when Terra stepped on it, the torches came back to life. Terra smiled, but suddenly, he saw three black-haired, white-skinned rogues running towards the group. He didn't need the warning that followed from Lena to know that they were evil.

As they approached, he pooled his strength and called up a vine creeper. It came out of the ground and hit one of the rogues, and she turned visibly green as her circulatory system distributed the plant's poison throughout her body. Lena launched an arrow at the poisoned rogue and Lauria shot both of the others with fireballs. They were visibly weakened for Terra and the others to fight when they got there. They fell easy enough and the group rested afterwards, feeling the need to peruse through their various abilities to learn. Terra saw the spirit wolf ability and smiled to himself. He studied the passage about the spirit wolf and concentrated on a wolf. He felt a slight drain and then looked down in front of him. There stood a wolf, panting up at him as though it had run a long way for this indignity of being called to nothing. He smiled and nostalgia hit him again as he remembered what must've only been a few days ago, but now, felt like it was centuries behind him. He knew, however, that he couldn't handle the strain of too many wolves. Terra looked over at Damien, whom he still referred to in his mind as the necromancer. He was directing three skeletons, testing his abilities.

Terra smiled to himself and concentrated upon the wolf and a command for it. Suddenly the wolf's ears pricked up and it turned around, seemingly having a smile on its face. Suddenly it jumped one of Damien's skeletons, tearing out the fibia of one of its legs. Terra smiled, whereas the necromancer looked rather sourly at the wolf. Terra started to laugh, as did others. Suddenly, though, Lance quieted everyone and put his ear to the ground. "There's a lot of...tiny imp-like creatures." Terra looked at Lance, who looked rather odd with that muscular body pressing his head down on the ground. "Okay...Lance, please get up."

Lance stood up and looked strangely at the man who said that to him. He seemed as though he had forgotten entirely about the druid. "Why don't you be quiet and listen yourself, nature-man. Your precious plants would tell you about these things, wouldn't they?" Terra stared severely at Lance, but he didn't so much as flinch under Terra's gaze. Terra sighed and then ducked and looked over the hill, hoping that whatever it was wouldn't end up seeing him. He saw so many Fallen he started to get dizzy, including many Fallen Shamans. There was also a shaman who was rather...off-color.

"Stop right where you are and give up!" Terra heard the slightly hoarse, shaky voice and he immediately reached out to his wolf. The wolf responded post-haste, dropping the bone and going for the throat of the nearest corrupted rogue. She cried out in a gutteral noise before her throat was ripped from her body. The nearest Fallen turned toward the cry, and saw the adventurers. William's eyes widened and he whispered, barely audible, "Oh...God..." The Fallen alerted their comrades with gutteral cries of battle. Terra could feel the helm he was given start to bleed some sort of power into him, and he let it flow through him. Suddenly, two more wolves appeared. Terra's eyes widened and the wolves ran into the crowd of Fallen and began ripping them to shreds.

He looked at his hands, wondering about the power he felt flow through them suddenly and then decided that it was better to focus on the battle at hand instead of trying to think about this. They all rushed forward, killing Fallen after Fallen until everything was dead, including Bishibosh, who screamed before exploding. Terra, who was breathing hard, looked over at his wolves, who were smiling, then looked over at the rest of the group, and finally, Lena. Lena was looking down at one of the Fallen, holding her side. Terra stared for a moment, then his eyes widened dramatically. He ran over to Lena and looked at the large amount of blood spurting out of the hole she was trying to cover up.

She winced, and Terra's eyebrows furrowed together as he looked over the wound. He pulled a potion out of his pack and pulled the stopper. She looked slowly at him, then the potion, seeming to lose coherence. "I'm not letting you die." Terra said, pushing the bottle against her lips, letting the liquid pour through into her mouth. She gagged slightly as the bitter taste left itself on her tastebuds, but she could feel the wound healing. She moved her hand slightly, and the wound was already coagulating. Moments later, the scab fell off and the skin was red, yes, but there. She looked down, then smiled up at Terra. He smiled at her and then, without even thinking about it, kissed her.

He felt her tense up in his arms for a moment, trying to move her head, but after a second had passed she gave herself into the emotion and feelings of the kiss. They both kissed for about a minute, the others staring, shocked and awed. They both moved back slightly, smiling at each other and Damien made to clear his throat. Terra heard the noise, remembering where he was all in one shot and looked slowly over at the group. William was looking slightly scornful, whereas Damien, Lance, and Lauria were all smiling. After a moment of looking, he saw Aile standing over near the wall a hundred feet off. "What are you doing?!" William practically yelled, staring at Terra and Lena as though they were children. "You two don't need to let your guard down as such in the middle of a heavily demonic area. There could be many taints, physical, mental, and spiritual around here!"

Terra glared at him angrily and reached out with his spirit. He could feel the taint coming from the one known as Blood Raven. _He's right, though. This is definitely not the time or place to be doing that. However...it felt so good!_ Terra thought to himself. He looked over at Lena, who was blushing brightly and staring at the wet, muddy ground as though she were ashamed of what she had done. "If you can't do what you feel, then you shouldn't be around to feel anything." Terra said, looking straight into the paladin's eyes. Lance smiled even wider when he heard that, and Terra knew that perhaps there was a chance of being friends with Lance, or maybe even Damien, who had kept the same smile as before.

William glared at him for about a second longer, then broke his hard stare, looking over at one of the dead fallen shamans. Terra looked at everyone else, then William, and finally spoke up. "William, I realize that this is not the best place for me to be kissing her, however, I was caught in the moment. You'd understand that if you hadn't been raised by monks for most of your life." That seemed to touch a nerve in William, because when he looked back up at Terra, William was red-faced and very insulted by something. "Yeah! Well, at least my teachers didn't sit and stagnate in the ground for centuries. They went and did things!" Terra, without thinking, jumped at William, knocking him to the ground. The two started rolling around, punching and kicking each other until Lance stepped over and pulled the two from each other.

Terra was bleeding out of his nose, which looked slightly crooked, but William was bleeding profusely out of the mouth and his nose was more than a little bent. Terra took a wild swing and missed, rocking him back and forth while still being held up by Lance. "You meandering idiot! Set me down!" William screamed at Lance, who stared at him for a moment and judged that he wouldn't try to kill Terra. He still held Terra up though, who was still trying to swing at William. "Terra, calm down. William won't hit at you again." Lance said, trying to get through to him. Lance sighed and then smacked Terra across the face with his free arm. Terra looked angry, surprised, then ashamed, all within the space of a few seconds.

"I'm...I'm sorry, William. I didn't mean to jump at you, but you need to tone down your own anger a bit." Terra apologized, hoping William would forgive him, but William just stuck his nose into the air. "Just make sure it never happens again." Willaim said before he started walking some more. The others began to walk, and Lance set Terra down, to which Lena rushed over as quickly as possible to help him straighten his own nose. Terra cried out as she pushed his nose straight again. "Don't scream too loud, unless you want to attract more monsters." Terra looked at her, and saw that she was smiling at him. "Don't play with me like that..." Terra said, looking down at the ground, remembering their sudden kiss.

Lena seemingly knew what he was thinking about because she said, "Terra, did you enjoy that kiss?" Terra looked up at her, and without missing a beat, said, "Yes, I did. I enjoyed it a lot...but did YOU enjoy it?" Terra asked, stressing that it was about her. Lena smiled and said, "Yes, I did." Terra smiled, but then saw through his raven's eyes that the rest of their party had made it to the area called the Burial Grounds. "However, we may wish to continue moving. The others are already nearing the gates. They may need our help." Lena's eyes widened, showing that she hadn't even seen them leave. They ran to catch up to them, and found the others at the entrance to the burial grounds. "About time you showed up. We almost left you two behind." Damien said, looking off in the distance towards the powerful demonic taint that they could now see in the air. It felt heavy on their bodies and Terra didn't know how much of this he could take.

They headed into the area, feeling the taint a bit more with every step they took. Suddenly, Terra cried out. Everyone turned to him, but he didn't see them. As their gaze turned towards where he was looking, beyond them, they saw the horrors that he had screamed about. There must've been a hundred zombies milling about in the graveyard, and among them, constantly running to another grave to raise another zombie was Blood Raven, which was told by the blood-red armor that she wore upon her curvacious body. Damien took the time now to study the corrupted rogues closely, especially one who shouldn't have such knowledge of the necromantic arts. He could see runes floating around Blood Raven, similar to the ones he found on the skeleton when he had first ventured out of his ancestral home.

Terra noticed that Damien didn't look so well, so he walked over to him. "Damien, what's wrong?" Damien looked up at him, and for once, the haunted kid who never got a true childhood shone through like a blinding light. The lonely boy who wasn't even adept at using necromantic spells in the first place, but that kid was eclipsed by the burning desire to study necromancy and not let his people down. However, he still let them down to this day. Most necromancers his age would've known how to raise something with a powerful necromantic raising spell called Revive. Terra, of course, didn't see this, but he did see that the kind kid who never was good at being a cold necromancer, and that was enough.

Terra looked away, pondering his position. When he turned back, Damien was once again in control of himself. "Damien, what do you suggest we do?" Damien looked away for another moment, stealing a glance at Blood Raven and then turned back to Terra, saying, "Don't worry about the zombies. She's the source of their power. Without her, the zombies will fall." Terra nodded grimly, not relishing what was ahead for all of them. They readied their weapons when, suddenly, a band large band of zombies limped out of the darkness behind a tree, moaning their pained, morbid cries with mouths unable to form the words to articulate their pain.

Terra gritted his teeth at the cry, feeling it strike him at his core, where he would always try to help another. Suddenly, a white bolt of magic flew past his head, striking one of the zombies. It immediately fell, the spell binding the zombie broken. Terra ran forward, feeling invigorated by one of the paladin's auras he had mentioned before. It was a small battle, but everyone could tell that Blood Raven noticed them now. She constantly taunted the adventurers, telling them to come to their deaths. After working their way around the entire graveyard, they found the gate into the graveyard, and there were plenty of zombies reinforcing it. Terra panted, holding one of his arms, where a cut had turned into a gash because of his constant use of that arm.

He turned around to the group, only to have the white bolt that hit the zombie hit him. For a moment, he expected to feel pain, but he instead felt his current pain melt right off of him. He looked over and saw his arm, without the gash that had previously dominated that arm. He looked up, amazed at the caster, who turned out to be none other than William. William said, "Don't wear yourself out. If you need to return to town, those of us who don't need to go can wait." Terra smiled, feeling his tired body crying for reprieve, so he opened a town portal scroll and read the few words on it.

A blue portal appeared and Terra, along with Lance and Lena left, going to town to sell their items or deposit items they want to save until later to wear, such as the flawed ruby that Lance found in a treasure chest along the way. After taking care of any business they had in town, they returned, fresh-faced and ready to fight. They ventured through the gate and immediately were swept up in an ocean of zombies and skeletons. As they fought their way through the ranks of undead, they heard both Lauria and Aile cry out as they were both struck down by the zombies. Terra called his wolves to his side, feeling the rage he put off whenever thinking of these undead bastards, and he could feel the changes beginning to overtake him. His face elongated, turning into more of a snout than a nose and mouth. His ears moved up, turning into points, as everyone could hear the slushing of his bones rearranging themselves ever so slightly, except in his legs, where the structure changed entirely, bending and creating an elongated set of legs. His hands clumped up, then talon-sharp claws erupted from the flesh. Finally, the fur came, rippling across his body, covering everything that otherwise looked ugly. His transformation into a werewolf had completed. The others looked on in a grim sort of fascination as Terra howled, the wolves joining in the howl immediately. Terra looked at Blood Raven, lifting his lips, revealing razor-sharp teeth and he jumped at her, howling and bringing one of his paws down, slicing Blood Raven's face. She howled in pain, then pulled her bow, forming an arrow of flame that she shot directly into Terra's chest. He howled, and his wolves came up, driving her back as he looked down and looked back at her.

Blood Raven's face contorted to a look of horror as he jumped at her again, this time striking her with a ferocity she didn't know he had. His first swing took off her arm, his second took her other arm, and the third ended her. Suddenly, Blood Raven's spirit jumped out of her body, and white bolts traveled to the zombies and skeletons she raised, immediately breaking the necromantic spell. Terra's body turned back into his normal form, but he grimaced as his mouth came back, feeling a sense of being disconnected from all the wonderful features of the world. He saw the horrified looks of the others, still reeling from his transformation, and he looked confused. "What's wrong?" Lena, who appeared to be more vocal than the others at this moment, stepped forward, speaking in a slightly shaky voice. "What...What was that?" Terra didn't expect them to not be used to something like that, with as often as he had seen a similar display.

"I'm sorry that I scared you, but it's an ability that every druid gains. Eventually, my transitions will be much smoother than it was now. Even I could feel much of the pain, being the one transforming." Lena walked over to him and said, "But that's not all I'm actually worried about. I'm sure the others share my fear of you going berserk. Seeing you jump at Blood Raven..." Lena shivered noticeably, and Terra could begin to feel the fear in the air. He looked down before pulling out a scroll and saying the words on the scroll. A blue portal appeared in front of him and he walked into it without saying a word. Lauria rushed through, followed a few seconds later by Aile. Lauria looked worried and asked, "Guys, what happened to Terra? He had tears sliding down his face as he walked over to Charsi." Lena looked at the ground, then back to everyone else. "I think...I think I may have made him feel bad." "It's not your fault," William tried to assure her, "He never warned any of us of the transformation, and as such, we were not prepared for it." Lena didn't say anything else, however. She walked into the portal. When she arrived back in town, she looked around and noticed a raven sitting outside of Terra's tent. She walked up, but the raven cawed menacingly.

_He...He never had his ravens guarding from...from us..._Lena thought, feeling hurt that he was trying to keep her away. After everyone came back, they all went to their respective tents. Kashya, noticing the split, decided to employ her patience. As night took full turn, Terra left his tent. He walked over to the still-open portal to the death-still graveyard and walked right through. He arrived silently with his wolves and ravens. He summoned another vine, feeling the vine's death for the first time. He walked over to the mausoleum and killed monsters within it, making himself stronger and looking for better weapons and armor. He then walked over to the other building and rooted through it as well.

Back at the camp, Lena decided to check up on Terra. She arrived at his tent, noticing the raven gone. She smiled a hopeful smile, pleading with fate to let him be happy again. She walked into the tent and found something she didn't expect. No one was in the tent. She then walked outside and moved around the rogue camp quickly, trying hard to find Terra, but to no avail. Kashya saw her running around the camp and walked over, stopping her and asking, "What's wrong, Lady Amazon?" Lena had tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks, and Kashya could tell that something was wrong among the group. "Do you need any help? I can give you a rogue of my own. She can help you with quite a bit of combat." Lena nodded offhandedly, not really paying attention because an idea appeared in her head. Had the portal been missing? She walked back in, followed by Kashya, to find that the portal, indeed, was gone.

She took the waypoint, not even aware of the other rogue that had followed her through. Her mind was focused on one thing: Terra. Everything else, even killing the monsters that rushed her with their battlecries, took a distant second. Eventually she worked her way to the worn stones that dictated another walled-off area. She saw the mark they left on the side which told her that this was the graveyard. She ran into there, seeing that there were no monsters further up. She could hear, however, echoes of battle reaching her ears, and beyond that, the howl of a wolf. She knew from the way that it chilled her that it was the werewolf howl of Terra. She pulled out her bow, rushed through the now-placid graveyard, reaching the mausoleum and rushing down the steps three at a time, almost tripping with every step. She made it to the bottom in no time, rushing closer and closer to the fight. She ran into the room and saw, with undisguised horror, the foul-smelling zombie, which looked like it was about to make the final transition to a skeleton, most of the meat hanging off of its red bones.

Her eyes slowly turned, inevitably drawn toward the movement created out of the corner of her eye. She found it strange, however, that when she looked at the bipedal white werewolf, that she didn't feel any fear of him. He looked at her and she could feel how he felt through his eyes. Suddenly, he looked forward again and Lena, for the first time, noticed the rogue when she began to fire arrows into the zombie, who moaned slightly before walking toward Lena and the rogue. "What's your name, rogue?" Lena asked as she nocked an arrow to fire. "My name's Sarah." She replied as she, too, nocked another arrow. They both fired off ice arrows, slowing the zombie's assault to a slow gait. Terra rushed in, hackles raised, and swung out with one paw. The zombie shattered into tiny pieces, scattering frozen, decayed flesh and bone everywhere. Terra changed back, bones creaking less and flesh looking less disturbing already, and looked at Lena before he sighed and opened a portal. He pulled something off of the stone floor where the zombie had died, the floor still being ice-cold. He held it to Lena, who widened her eyes. A composite bow! She couldn't believe that he had found it. Terra smiled and put it in her hands. "This is for you." He walked through the portal, and she watched through the portal as he headed into his tent. She smiled and walked through the portal as well. She looked at Sarah, smiled, then gave Sarah the bow she had owned before. Lena walked to her tent and fell asleep from the moment she passed through the air in front of the bed.

* * *

AN: For those of you wondering, I will have each Act focusing on different characters. Right now is Terra and Lena. If anyone has any suggestions on who you'd like to see next act, message me or e-mail me. 


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